They're hoping people forget about it by next month, actually. They don't want the question asked.
[citation][nom]zedon[/nom]You only hear negative rumors because those are the only ones that stick and there are so many paranoid conspiracy theorists on the internet if you believe this crap you're an idiot.The vast majority of people don't care, they already have internet on all the time. It's a few % that live on the bubble that are concerned. Do you really think most under 18 care about that or people in cities or people with half way decent jobs. I doubt they will have always on but I think they will give that option to game makers for their game. Also I think they will do something to make sure they get a cut of the used game market as they should, gamestop is just a vulture and ripoff.[/citation]
No smoke without fire.
The vast majority you're speaking of must be Glenn Beck's silent majority I always hear about. I was under the impression that MS wanted to sell this product in the U.S., where there are vast stretches of rural farmland, forests, and mountains that do not have viable broadband access but may still want to play games. More than 1% of Americans do not live in a city. I'm sure MS agrees with you that those people don't need to buy their system. Also, people under 18 don't need to care about it, because they don't subscribe to the internet company.
Let's not even get into the fact the major broadband providers want to nickle and dime and scam everyone as much as possible and drop as many limitations as they are allowed. Keep suckling on that teat, you'll need to suckle it as long as you play Durango.
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]I am getting pretty sick of hearing all about one single thing that is being blown out of all proportion and solid information on the subject is missing. All it does is leave fantasists and paranoids to out the inevitable "but what if????" that becomes fact and a huge bandwagon goes into super ape-shit mode.[/citation]
It would be pretty easy for MS to silence this if it weren't true, right? All they have to say is "No way, that's absurd. You'll hear about it in May, but no." Why don't they just do that? Do they like negative press?
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Steam needs to be in Online mode all the time, unless you deliberately switch to offline mode and then all your Internet multiplay (but not LAN play) is borked - nobody cares about that, it is a universally accepted system of being "always connected" and for consoles to do the same is suddenly a bad thing? [/citation]
Yes, it is. This isn't Steam, and it isn't a PC. When Steam came along, the PC game industry was busy reaming everyone with crazy DRM schemes. Steam was the better option. Consoles have not had to worry about DRM schemes due to the different way in which they interacted. To bring it to an industry sector that HASN'T had to deal with worse will be shocking to console players. This doesn't include those who chose consoles because they didn't agree with Steam's methods to begin with.
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Before you retort, I already know it, you want to play used games, you think if your internet drops out you will not be able to play single player, you think they are spying on you, you need a tin foil hat...If you don't like it, buy a Playstation 4 or a PC - uh oh - same deal - well, you can always go for Nintendo - good luck with that, enjoy playing Forza on that, not![/citation]
It's reasonable for people to want to play used games, just like it's reasonable for people to drive used cars or sit on used furniture. Not everyone lives in the high income bracket, nor should gaming be a luxury only for those who can afford full priced games. It's reasonable for people to suspect they may be locked out of single player games without a connection since this actually HAPPENED already on PC. The insane theory that they want to spy on you comes from a real patent that suggested tracking the amount of people in the room and charging for content by the person. This is not a crackpot theory, as stupid as it even sounds to write it. It is something that was applied for. None of these are tinfoil hat theories like saying reptilians are controlling HAARP with wizardry, and all could be silenced with a simple denial from MS that clearly isn't coming. In these matters, silence is an affirmation, because a company would never admit to something that they know would hurt sales. Come May, or E3, or even November, there is going to be two possible answers. "You can play used games and be offline" or "No comment" The answer "Yes, we are going to take this clearly unpopular approach to please publishers regardless of what consumers want" probably isn't going to come out, even if it's true. PR is about distorting reality to be favorable to your cause.